1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to minority carrier isolation barriers in a body of semiconductor material and a method of making the same.
2. Background of the Invention
Many integrated circuits and related semiconductor devices currently depend on electrical isolation of one component from another. For obvious reasons, a common electrical isolation technique is to produce back-to-back P-N junctions between elements of the circuit which one desires to electrically isolate. However, two main drawbacks of the technique are substrate leakage and the capacitance effects on the components and the circuit operation.
In many applications, where electrical isolation is currently used, minority carrier isolation rather than electrical isolation, therefore, is really the desired goal. Minority carrier isolation is presently obtained by electrically isolating two elements of a device or circuit which acts as a barrier to minority carriers and then electrically connecting the elements with a metal lead. Minority carrier isolation obtained in this manner requires all of the processing steps associated with electrical isolation as well as all of the processing steps required to join the electrically isolated regions with an electrically conductive metal bridge.
An object of this invention is to provide a new and improved minority carrier isolation barrier in a body of semiconductor material which overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art.
Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved minority carrier isolation barrier in a body of semiconductor material which will increase manufacturing yields by reducing the number and the complexity of process steps presently involved in prior art minority-carrier-isolation technology.
Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved minority carrier isolation barrier in a body of semiconductor material which optimizes the volume and surface area of the body of semiconductor material available for device and circuit fabrication.
A further object of this invention is to provide a new and improved minority carrier isolation barrier in a body of semiconductor material which does not simultaneously act as an electrical isolation barrier.